Might it finally be win-or-else time for Chargers?

The slings and arrows continue to fly Dean Spanos’ way, but the Chargers’ boss is artful at dodging them. Maybe he’s just developed the skin of a rhino. If he hasn’t, he sure seems to feel comfortable inside of whatever wraps him.

I hear things about Spanos. Thought I’d pass them along for response.

•He’s cash-flow poor.

“We just spent a lot of money in free agency ($21.7 million in cap space),” Spanos says. “I have enough to cover it.”

•Money (eating $12 million) is the only reason why he fought off many of his fans’ wishes and brought back General Manager A.J. Smith and coach Norv Turner.

•“Yeah, I know it was a controversial decision,” he says, “but I’ve also received a lot of support. It (the reaction) has been balanced. People who know football understand why the decision was made. At no time have I regretted the decision.”

•He’s cheap.

•“We spend at the cap every year,” he says. “We were one of two teams (Houston being the other) with no money left over to transfer to this year.”

•He’s moving to Los Angeles the first chance he gets.

•“This is my home. I like it here,” he says. When asked how long his team can continue to play in Qualcomm, he adds: “At some point in time we’ll reach the end of the line. Economics will drive it more than anything. Can we generate enough revenue (to compete)?”

•That the housing bust has sent the Spanos family construction business reeling.

“Actually, it’s been good,” he says. “We’re in apartments, and that’s pretty much remained steady through all of it.”

•He takes advantage of the fans and his season ticket sales are tobogganing.

“We haven’t raised season ticket prices for five years. How’s that?” he asks the messenger. “And we’re still spending as much or more to be competitive. I’d say our season ticket sales are pretty much the same, maybe off a little bit.”

A whole lot of people don’t know Dean Spanos anymore than they think they know me or my business, and a whole lot of people think they do. He’s not cheap. He’s spent millions — heck, just trying to get a new stadium built, he’s spent millions — it’s just not all of it has been done wisely. He hasn’t always been right in personnel decisions (firing Bobby Ross, hiring Kevin Gilbride), and I can’t fault him for bringing back Smith and Turner. It’s highly doubtful he was going to do better and might have done worse.

He still has a hand in the family business, but not as much as he once did — younger brother Michael is in charge of that — but devotes most of his time to the football team. “On the team side and the stadium side,” he says.

But he insists he’s not a meddler. There are times when he disagrees with Smith. “Every once in a while,” he says with a smile.

Spanos has dumped out his wallet. Since free agency opened, the Chargers have gone deeper into the pool than at any time in their history. They’ve added eight players and retained four of their own. The big thing, the controversial thing, was allowing top receiver Vincent Jackson to leave for Tampa Bay.

“I was disappointed,” Spanos says. “I think we would have liked to keep him and do a deal with him. But there were so many things we had to do. If we signed him, we would have been limited.”

Spanos knew that, if wasn’t going to bring in a new head coach and GM, something drastic was needed in personnel (done) and on the coaching staff, where John Pagano replaced the ineffective Greg Manusky at defensive coordinator and Steve Fairchild was brought in as an offensive assistant to help Turner with game management issues. An 8-8 season after a 9-7 year, both years out of the postseason, were beyond disappointing to Spanos.

“A lot of people saw the status quo, but I truly knew we were going to make changes in personnel and on the coaching side,” he says. “I really think we’ve addressed our concerns. We have clearly been aggressive in free agency, sort of like 2001, when we were proactive with John Butler (as GM).

“The big surprise came with injuries to our left tackle (Marcus McNeill) and left guard (Kris Dielman). Nobody could have planned for that. But now, we clearly can focus on defense going into the draft. We’d like to get a big-time pass rusher and maybe a safety. That’s no big secret.

“I’m happy the way it’s progressing. We still have a ways to go. You can talk until you’re blue in the face about all the moves we’ve made, but you’ve got to win.”

My guess — and I believe it’s a good one — is that this is the win-or-bust year. On paper, there’s no doubt the team has improved. I can’t imagine Spanos tolerating anything short of a run through the playoffs.

“Every year you don’t make the playoffs, it’s disappointing,” Spanos concludes. “We still have a good team; we still have a good core. There is a huge need in the league to win now. You don’t have to imply anything. Everyone knows you’ve got to win.”